Wall form tie rod



July 18, 1961 LEQNARD 2,992,468

WALL FORM TIE ROD Filed NOV. 10, 1958 INVENTOR. 667/964 e. Man 41w BY United States Patent 2,992,468 WALL FORM TIE ROD George E. Leonard, Mount Clemens, Mich. (22393 Firwood, East Detroit, Mich) Filed Nov. 10, 1958, Ser. No. 772,884 Claims. (Cl. 131) This invention relates to forms for the pouring of concrete and more particularly to a tie rod and structure for fixedly spacing a pair of concrete pouring forms.

Heretofore various locking devices, hooks, clamps or other structures have been employed for securing concrete pouring forms together in fixed spaced relation. Either these were too cumbersome in use, costly to make or diflicult to assemble and disassemble.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a novel tie rod and structure which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture and in use and which is fully efiective for fixedly spacing a pair of upright concrete pouring forms, and easily disengageable therefrom.

It is a further object to provide a novel tie rod in conjunction with concrete pouring forms with interlock means, with locking structure on the tie rod for cooperative engagement with said interlock means.

These and other objects will be seen from the following specification and claims in conjunction with the appended drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary broken away elevational section illustrating concrete pouring forms and one tie rod of a plurality of such tie rods for fixedly spacing said forms.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary plan view thereof.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary section taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary section taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary section taken on line 5-5 of FIG, 1.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view similar to FIG. 1 showing a slight variation thereof.

It will be understood that the above drawing illustrates merely an illustrative embodiment of the invention, and that other embodiments are contemplated within the scope of the claims hereafter set forth.

Referring to the drawing, a pair of upright parallel spaced concrete pouring forms 11 are shown, which are normally of plywood and are substantially conventional in construction, being on an average of three feet wide and eight feet high.

Opposed pairs of vertically spaced horizontally extending Walers 12 of right angular shape are secured upon the exterior surfaces of said forms by fasteners 13. Said Walers extend across the width of the form and are preferably arranged approximately thirty-two inches from their top and bottom edges respectively.

Said walers include the opposed parallel outwardly extending horizontal flanges 14 having elongated vertically aligned apertures 15 formed there through.

Transverse apertures 16 extend through forms 11 in laterally aligned relation between walers 12, and are adapted to slidably receive portions of tapered shaft 17 forming a part of the present tierod.

Apertures 16 preferably extend 9 inches in from each side edge of a form, though other distances can be employed. Accordingly the upper walers have two rods extending between the forms; and likewise there are an additional two tie rods for the lower walers. Thus the tie rods are 18 inches apart. As the forms 11 are arranged edge to edge, adjacent tie rods between adjacent forms are also spaced apart 18 inches for illustration.

The present tie rods tapered shaft 17 has adjacent one "ice end a fixed collar 18 from which extends the right angular handle 19 of reduced diameter. Disc 20 is loosely positioned upon shaft 17 and bears against one side of collar 18. In use disc 20 is adapted to operatively engage the outer edge portions of flanges 14, of one pair of walers for one of the opposed forms 11, as shown in FIG. 1.

Tnansverse pin 21 is firedly projected through shaft 17 with its ends projecting from opposite sides thereof, and spaced from disc 20, being parallel to handle 19.

When the tie rod is in locking position, the ends of pin 21 retainingly project through the pair of vertically aligned apertures 15 in the right hand waler flanges 14.

The opposite or reduced end of shaft 17 has an annular groove 22 formed therein terminating in looking key 23. This locking key in the locked position of tie rod 17, FIG. 3, extends transversely of the end of said tie rod and is of a length corresponding to the adjacent diameter of said tie rod.

Said locking key includes a pair of flattened sides 24 whereby the locking key may be projected through upright aperture 25 in lockplate 26, when the tie rod 17 has been rotated -degrees from the position shown in FIGS. 1 and 3.

Before the tie rod is assembled with respect to forms 11, lockplate 26, which is substantially rectangular in shape, is projected downwardly through vertically aligned apertures 15 formed in the opposed flanges 14 of the left hand set of walers 12, for example. Said lockplate at its upper end has laterally extending bosses 27 serving as stops for positioning and retaining lockplate 26 with respect to said flanges.

Said lockplate and its upright aperture 25 is positioned to loosely receive locking key 23 with the flattened sides 24 thereof loosely projected through said slot until the annular groove 22 on the tie rod shaft is .in registry with aperture 25. In operation, this would correspond to a position of the tie rod rotated 90-degrees from the locked position shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. At this point, the pin 21 would be lying between the right hand set of w-aler flanges 14 parallel thereto, and would achieve an interlock with respect to the flange apertures 15 when the tie rod is rotated substantially 90-degrees to the locking position shown. At the same time, locking key 23 will have assumed the locking and retaining position particularly shown in FIG. 3.

In assembling the concrete pouring forms 11, the same are mounted upon a suitable support surface such as the ground or concrete footings, and a predetermined spacing of IO-inches is established between said forms, for illustration.

The forms already have secured thereto the sets of walers 12 arranged above and below the form apertures 16, ready to receive the form locking tie rods. In the locked position shown, lockplate 26 is engaged upon one side by the body of shaft 17, which is of larger diameter than the width of aperture 25.

The opposite side of lockplate 26 is retainingly engaged by key 23. The locking operation is effected simply by projecting the tapered end of shaft 17 through form apertures 16, with tie rod handle 19 in a horizontal position, and with key 23 projected through lockplate 26.

As soon as disc 20 engages flanges 14 of the adjacent walers serving to locate the tie'rod, said tie rod handle is merely rotated 90-degrees to the locking position shown in FIGS. 1, 3, 4 and 5.

The unlocked position of the tie rod is indicated by the dotted line indication of its handle 19 in FIG. 2.-

Disc '20 is loose upon shaft .17 to facilitate release of said tie rod inasmuch as the same is rotatable relative to said disc should said disc have assumed a tight frictional contact with waler flanges 14.

It is contemplated, however, that though the disc 20 loosely on shaft 17, as advantageous, nevertheless said disc may be eliminated, if desired, at the same time making collar 18 of a large enough diameter and so positioned as to retainingly engage the adjacent waler flanges 14.

The present tie rod may also be used for spacing said forms 8 inches apart. For this purpose, pin 21 is removed from its aperture and a two-inch spacer 28 is positioned over shaft 17 against disc 20. Pin 21 is then projected through a second aperture 21', FIGS. 1 and 6, spaced two-inches from the first aperture.

The operation in FIG. 6 is the same as above described, but the forms 11, one of which is shown, are now spaced apart 8 inches, for illustration. The spacing could be varied additionally merely by employing additional holes through shaft 17 and using different spacers.

Having described my invention, reference should now be had to the following claims.

I claim:

I. In combination, a pair of oppositely apertured spaced upright concrete pouring forms, opposed pairs of spaced elongated walers secured upon the exteriors of said forms,

each opposed pair of walers including opposed pairs of elongated apertures therethrough in a plane parallel to said forms, spaced tie rods for fixedly spacing said forms, each tie rod including an elongated tapered shaft transversely projected through said forms between said walers, a collar secured adjacent one end of said shaft, a right angular handle extending from said collar, a disc loosely mounted on said shaft bearing against said collar and operatively engaging the edges of one pair of walers on one form, a locking pin extending transversely through said shaft and projecting therefrom spaced from said disc and parallel to said handle, with the free ends of said pin retainingly extending through one pair of opposed apertures of one pair of walers, a lockplate extending through the opposed pair of apertures of another pair of walers on the other form, said lockplate including an upright aperture therethrough, there being an annular groove on said shaft adjacent its other end registering Within said lockplate aperture, an adjacent portion of said shaft engaging one side of said lockplate, and a transverse locking key on the end of said shaft adjacent said groove projected through said lockplate aperture and retainingly engaging the other side of said lockplate.

2. The tie rod of claim 1, there being a transverse aperture through said shaft spaced inwardly from said pin, said pin adapted to be removed and projected through and secured within said transverse aperture as a second position of use, and a spacer bushing loosely positioned on said shaft between said pin in its second use position and disc and bearing against said disc.

3. In combination, a pair of oppositely apertured spaced upright concrete pouring forms, opposed pairs of spaced elongated walers secured upon the exteriors of said forms, each opposed pair of walers including opposed pairs of elongated apertures therethrough in a plane parallel to said forms, spaced tie rods for fixedly spacing said forms, each tie rod including an elongated tapered shaft transversely projected through said forms between said walers, a collar secured adjacent one end of said shaft operatively engaging the edges of one pair of walers on one form, a right angular handle extending from said collar, a locking pin extending transversely through the shaft and projecting therefrom spaced from said collar, with its free ends retainingly extending through one pair of opposed apertures of one pair of walers, a lock plate extending through the opposed pair of apertures of another pair of walers on the other form, said lockplate including an upright aperture therethrough, there being an annular groove on said shaft adjacent its other end registering within said lockplate aperture, an adjacent portion of said shaft engaging one side of said lockplate, and a transverse locking key on the end of said shaft adjacent said groove projected through said lockplate aperture and retainingly engaging the other side of said lock-plate.

4. The combination of claim 3, and laterally extending stop means at one end of said lockplate bearing against one of said walers.

5. The combination of claim 3, each pair of said walers including opposed outwardly extending flanges, said waler apertures extending through said flanges, said collar bearing against the edges of an adjacent pair of waler flanges on one of said forms.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 334,529 Hood et a1. Jan. 19, 1886 1,490,284 MacLeod- Apr. 15, 1924 1,552,334 Mosher Sept. 1, 1925 1,723,631 Pollock et al. Aug. 6, 1929 1,782,897 Hudgin Nov. 25, 1930 1,956,771 McKeown May 1, 1934 2,778,087 Krueper Jan. 22, 1957 

